Best Birthday So Far!

Oh. My. Gosh. Fifty-five was a fantastic day. And I am ever mindful of people I love who never got to live this long, and I am freaking grateful every single day.

I took the day off work a couple weeks earlier, not knowing what the day would hold, but Monkey delivered the perfect idea. A friend had invited her to spend a hot, rainy day at Seabreeze, which didn't sound great, but spending a cool, sunny day to celebrate her mom's birthday did!

Buster got his necessary calculus work done ahead of time. Buddie always has Friday off. Monkey and I were excited and ready. Yessa had to work her final shift, but she was game to spend the first part of her day at the amusement park with us. All systems were go!!

The park doesn't open until 11 a.m., and since it is only a 13 minute drive for us, we had the whole morning ahead of us.

Buddie had found a great option for an induction stove for us at the local appliance store, so Yessa, Buds, and I took a trip over to see that.

Great reviews of the stove and the local appliance store made it an easy choice to "shop local" and make the purchase. While not really a birthday present for me, I am excited to get rid of our current gas stove that is so hard to keep clean.

We had fun looking around the appliance store, which had an interesting display of old fridges and washing machines. I got to tell Yessa how her grandma's family paid for their first refrigerator by a drop box on the side of it that they had to keep putting coins into to keep the fridge running. A man would come and empty out the coin box and credit their account toward the cost of the fridge.

Stove purchased, back home to get everyone up, fed, sunscreened, and out the door.

Seabreeze is right by Lake Ontario, and we were enchanted by the view, the free parking, and this sweet little amusement park that is just the right size for us.

Monkey is our adrenaline junky and could not wait to get on the first roller coaster she could find. Luckily Buddie, and sometimes Yessa, are game to go along on her rides of acceleration.

Yessa, Buster, and I decided to try out the hanging swings. Seemed not too crazy and a good way to ease our way into the rides.

Onward to teacups and musical mayhem.

Buds and Monkey walked by as we were waiting in line for Music Express, so they got some fun pictures for us.

Monkey wanted a turn, too, she and Yessa got a chance to spin.

Buds and Monkey headed for a free-spinning roller coaster.

I couldn't get great video of them on the ride, but here's what their view was like.

Buster, Yessa, and I hopped in a baby Bobsled roller coaster, and that was enough excitement for me.

We decided it was a great time to break for lunch, then we could do the carousel and train while our stomach digested.

We took a brief detour to do the log ridge on our way to the train. We tried to divide up so that Yessa wouldn't get totally soaked before work. We did our best, and we all dried quickly. 😉😂

The train was a bit of respite.

Then we made the decision to go on the Tilt-a-whirl, and I had a moment of wishing that the ride would stop spinning.

So much spinning.

I needed a minute to settle my stomach, so the daredevils headed for this thing (Revolution 360) while Buster and I enjoyed the rocking chairs.

Yessa had time for a ride on the Jack Rabbit roller coaster with Monkey and Buds, then she and I headed off to take her to work for her very last shift while the rest of the family moved over to the water park.

After I dropped her off I found my people again, and once they were splashed out, we headed home.

It was truly a perfect day filled with laughter and stories and so much love.

And another perfect part mixed in with all this was watching the CrossFit Games on TV whenever we had the chance.

The birthday wrap up happened a few days later when I finally got my 55 burpees completed at CrossFit.

A large group from our box went to the CrossFit Games, and came home with a Tia stand up.

What a fantastic day.